Letter 10: Hermione Granger to her Mother, 24th December 1997

A/N: For simplicity’s sake, titles of books, journals etc are underlined and emphases are italicised. In reviving the old tradition of epistolary novels, I understand the plot may be a little slow, laborious and difficult to follow. Some might consider it AU and a little OOC.

In order not to weary the reader’s patience, a number of letters from the series of correspondences have been suppressed; only those which are necessary to a complete understanding of the events in this group are reproduced. For the same reason, some letters from the actors in the events of this drama have also been suppressed.

Proestigium or What the Seasons may Bring

Letter 10: Hermione Granger to her Mother, 24th December 1997

Hermione Jane Granger,

Hogwarts Castle,

Head Girl’s Room,

Gryffindor Tower,

Scotland,

United Kingdom.

24th December 1997

Dearest Mummy,

I hope this will find you and Daddy well. Poor Daddy! His sore throats are always worse than everybody else’s. I am very glad it did not spoil his appetite. I do not think he wants to consume nothing but gruel for Christmas.

You really shouldn’t have sent me a present. I know how the impending lawsuit with Miss Havisham could go and I do not want you to mortgage anything. Can you imagine the ignominy of being subjected to such a ‘death grip’? Well, I can. The book on Eleanor of Aquitaine is lovely. Thank you so very much. Kisses to you and Daddy for getting it for me. Harry and Ron also send their thanks to you for their gifts. Ron could not contain himself and ripped open his gift in the morning. He thinks the blue tie very nice; rather, he imagines it improves his looks. Out of tact, I declined to comment. Between us, I am glad you did not get Harry more food. Mrs Weasley is forever feeding Harry. She sends Ron cakes and all manner of other confections and instructs him to share them with us.

We had a mini Christmas party in the Great Hall earlier in the evening during dinner. It was quite nice with Professor Flitwick’s decorations and the sky was beautiful and crisp. The Christmas exchange of gifts among the staff was quite funny. Professor Dumbledore finally received a pair of socks. Professor McGonagall had a new brooch. Professor Snape had a pair of black kid gloves that he quickly shoved into his pockets with a scowl. Speaking of Professor Snape, there was this strange incident involving Cribbage’s Wizarding Crackers. I shall start from the beginning so as to make it easier for you to follow.

The Staff had to distribute Cribbage’s Wizarding Crackers to the students. Professor Dumbledore thought that it would be a most festive thing for the students as there would be something for everyone. Draco Malfoy and I had to assist in the distribution because we are Head Boy and Girl. While the rest of the students were left to party under the watchful eye of Mr Filch and the prefects, the teaching staff, Draco and I retired to the staffroom for a brief tête-à-tête and the staff exchange of gifts. Professor Dumbledore had Cribbage’s Wizarding Crackers for all of us. Instead of distributing them, we had to stick our hands in a bag and extract one Cracker. Professor Snape and I were the last ones to do so. He did not feel that it was becoming for him to engage in such activities and I thought I had outgrown the age of popping Crackers. I knew he was not going to pick the Cracker, so I took one for myself and gave him the last one. He took it from me without even touching my hand. He contemptuously lifted it with his fingers and stared down at me as if I was something that offended his nose and shooed me away with a dismissive flick of his wrist without so much as a thank you. Yet, I was sure that throughout the evening, he was studying me most intently. Then again, it could be my imagination. Or it could be a hormonal swing, as it is the first day of my period. You and I always get these odd so-called intuitive sensations during our menses.

The funny thing about the exchange is this: looking at the Crackers, you wouldn’t think that there was anything special about them. They were uniform in every way, that is, until you popped them. It turns out that everyone had something useful from the Crackers. Professor Trelawney had a snow globe crystal ball specially charmed to tell the future. Draco had a new Slytherin scarf charmed to return to him should he misplace it. It is really a very suitable thing for him because he’s always losing his. Professor McGonagall received hairpins that could do up her hair in any style she wanted. Professor Snape, very oddly, received a very reliable dictation quill. It’s nothing like that quick quote quill used by Miss Skeeter. This dictation quill wrote everything he said ad verbatim. I do not know whether to be amused or disconcerted when it started to record his more colourful expletives as well. I received a very magical reusable diary-cum-organiser. It looks like our muggle ones with one difference – instead of buying the yearly refills, it automatically starts the year anew for one. How economical and so very practical!

I cannot help but wonder why Professor Snape would need a dictation quill. As far as I know, he always does his own writing and is constantly scrawling over papers and whatever administrative work he has to do for the school. Even odder, Professor Dumbledore patted him on the shoulder and muttered something to him (that I did not catch) which drew a raised brow from our Potions Master. Professor Snape almost looked amused; then, he caught my eye and scowled at me. After that, he turned away and spoke in hushed tones to Draco. It is speculated that Draco may turn to our side, but I do not know whether I ought to put any stock in Professor Dumbledore’s belief.

That’s my Christmas for you. It was not terribly exciting, though fun and interesting.

In the meantime, I have been spending time researching on arrowroot, wolfsbane and Voudoun potions. I wish to speak to Dr Jigger about them. If all goes well and I do not mess up my final year examinations, I may ask Dr Jigger to supervise my B.Mag.A thesis. As you can imagine, I am very excited by the prospect. However, at present, everything is still in the planning stage. I will have to discuss the matter with Professor Snape first to determine its viability. The discussion will invariably entail another lecture on my poor abilities, but I value his opinions all the same.

Victor Krum sends his regards and the enclosed non-magical Krum action figure for Daddy. Love and kisses to you and Daddy. Reply soon.

Your loving,

Hermione.

Footnotes

Proestigium is Latin for illusion. Ironically, the English word Prestige derives from it.

Mortgage is Latin for death grip, hence the pun.